Family of guardsman killed in Iraq carries on his mission with foundation to help local youths

When she was approached a few years ago about the idea of starting a foundation in memory of her late husband, Dashan Briggs, a member of the Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing who died in a 2018 helicopter crash in Iraq, Rebecca Briggs said she wasn’t ready at the time.

"The idea was thrown around when everything happened in 2018, but I just wasn’t ready for something like that," Briggs, of Port Jefferson Station, said in an interview March 31. "I don’t think most of the family was."

Time has changed her mind, and when her family was offered the chance to participate in this year’s Suffolk County Veterans’ Run series — which publicizes run/walk events geared toward supporting Suffolk County veterans — Briggs said that gave them the motivation to start a nonprofit with a mission they say was important to her late husband: helping local children.

"The main goal we wanted to do is that my husband loved helping people," she said. "That was basically what his job was, too, but on a personal level, his whole life he always wanted to help people."

The board members of the Dashan J. Briggs Memorial Foundation, a 501(3)c nonprofit, announced the creation of the foundation in late March via Facebook.

The foundation will focus on helping youths in Riverhead and Port Jefferson learn, grow and better themselves, "and motivate them to do good," said Briggs, mother to Ava, 4, and Jayden, 5.

Eli Briggs, 85, of Riverhead, a board member and Dashan’s grandfather, who helped raise him, said helping others was important to his grandson, a graduate of Riverhead High School, from an early age.

"He used to write a lot of stuff down about helping people," Eli Briggs said, recalling that his grandson was very proud of helping the residents of Puerto Rico when his unit was deployed there in 2017 after Hurricane Irma. "That was what he was really about."

Briggs’ widow said the foundation will eventually seek to hold workshops and seminars to teach children about car maintenance, how to use power tools, personal finance, cooking and more.

"It would be basically teaching them life skills that they don’t necessarily learn in a school setting or sometimes from home for whatever reason," Briggs said. "We feel they are very important, and if we can teach them once and never have to help them again, I feel those would be the most beneficial skills for children growing into young adults."

Gloria Smith, 69, of Manorville, Dashan Briggs’ grandmother, said she hopes the foundation can raise money for scholarships.

If her grandson knew the foundation was helping children, "that would really make him proud," Smith said.

The nonprofit will hold a 5-kilometer virtual run fundraiser in August through the Veterans’ Run. Details on how to participate will be posted on the foundation’s Facebook page.